Mejora vs. Mejoramiento

[deandddd]

Members of the Forum,

What is the difference in the usage of mejora and mejoramiento?

Can I just say "mejoras" to wish that someone gets better who is sick?

And mejoría?

Dean

[poli]

Mejoramiento means improvement. It's a noun.

You can say mejora . It means you improve, or as command to improve! or mejórate meaning get better (that's an order). A better way to wish a person well is to say, que te mejores pronto

[deandddd]

Poli,

But I have found it as a noun in the dictionary, and I think it is used to wish people to get better. But is it used in other situations than that?

Dean

[poli]

Now I see what you mean. Wait for a native speaker for a better answer.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

It's very common that "mejora", "mejoramiento" and "mejoría" are used as synonyms (at least in Mexico). However, it depends on the speaker what word they would rather use in certain contexts.

I'm not sure about how to explain, so I'll try examples instead. Maybe some other speakers will have a different opinion, but this is how I use them:
- Hicimos varias mejoras a la casa y ahora está más bonita.
-> We improved the house (which needs many actions like rebuilding areas, painting, changing materials, etc.) and we have now a prettier place to live.
- Invertimos mucho dinero en el mejoramiento de la casa.
-> Here, the emphasis is not in the things we did to improve the house, but in the whole process. We could have also said: "invertimos en la mejora de la casa", but I, personally, prefer "mejora" for a specific action, so that's why in the first sentence I used it in plural.



Although I know some people would use "mejoría" as a perfect synonym of "mejora" here, it sounds strange to me, since I prefer "mejoría" in contexts where there is health (physical or mental) involved.
- La mejoría de la casa está en relación directa con la mejoría de sus habitantes.
-> This would mean that I'm taking the improvement "in the house" rather than an improvement "of the house"... if the relations between the people in the house are improving, it will be just because each individual is feeling better with themselves.

For someone who is sick you can describe their situation with any of these words, but I would prefer "mejoría" in all cases.
- El paciente presenta una leve mejoría. "...una leve mejora" "...un leve mejoramiento".
-> The patient's health is improving a little.

Talking to a person who has been sick, you don't really use any of these words, but variations with the verb "mejorar" and the comparison to their previous state of health with "mejor".
- We don't say "ojalá pronto tu salud presente un mejoramiento", but rather "ojalá te mejores pronto".
- We don't say "Qué bueno que tu semblante tiene mejoría", but rather "te ves de mejor semblante".
- We rather not say "Ya se te ve una mejora", but "ya te ves mejor".
- We rather not say "¿Ya sientes mejoría?, but "¿ya te sientes mejor?"

[deandddd]

Angelica,

You nailed it.

Thanks!

Dean

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Glad to help.